An article from American Sexualty Magazine discusses an
Ex-Gay Community
The focus of Ex-Gay Communities is to provide "hope for heaing" in the conversion process. These communities deny an orientation approach to homosexuality and do not want to extend out rights (same-sex marriages) since there is no identity that correlates with the right.
This is a very interesting article for its discussion of identity. Last week, I attended a conference and, during one of the panels, a philosopher asked an ethnographer about how the ethnographer can conduct a study on the identity of others since philosophers possess so much doubt on the identity of the self. In this article, there seem to be a lot of existential issues: development of an identiy from anxiety and lonliness; development of an identity based on personal comfort; development of an identity to remove problems in life (drugs, alcohol); and devlopment and reinforcement of an identity through a community.
At the end, the discusison of "relapses" seems very important, especially since it contradicts the establishment of a new identity. It seems that the power to believe in something may override the "pure identity." Some individuals may adopt a religion that states homosexuality is a moral wrong and not a human condition even though the person may possess a same-sex orientation. In that case, the "Will to Believe" trumps biological dispositions.
In the end, one question remains: how can we know?
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